"Respect mon!" Caye Caulker by LakeFever

Welcome to Caye Caulker! Sit back, relax ….go for a bike ride…grab a cold one and chill out at the waters edge. This was a great place we visited over the Winter Holidays…..it was not on our original plans to visit BUT with many people - over our first few days in Belize – raving about the island, we had to check it out. Easy enough to get there from Belize City via water taxi. The first thing we heard upon our arrival was “welcome to paradise”……for us, this place easily passes for paradise. Small enough to feel homey, but big enough to keep your senses busy, Caulker has a little bit for everyone. With the barrier reef only a mile away off shore (see the surf breaking in the picture above???...thats it), there are plenty of opportunities to go snorkeling, boating and possibly even scuba.
Above and beyond that, simply relax….try a different restaurant each night and walk the sunsets away from one end of the island to the other in about 20 minutes. Enjoy the TIPS as I build them, and the photos as well.

While we arrived in Caye Caulker with no accommodation it soon became obvious that there were various options in various price and comfort levels. Gilbert helped sort us out and took us to 3 or 4 places before we decided on where to bunk up. Gilbert is one of the enterprising rastas on the island and him (and others in his industry) will greet people arriving at the pier via water taxi. For no direct fee they will take your bags in their bike/taxi and walk around – already knowing where there are rooms, and where there are not. We got a bit of a tour, heard about the island and “go slow”, and after about 45mins we had a place to stay at the “tropical Paradise”. For Gilberts effort he gets compensated from the place we decided to stay, as well as a couple bucks from me for his insight. Ran into him throughout our time on the island and he became someone fun to talk to and hear 5 minutes of rambling on respect for humans! I gave Gilbert a Canadian pin when we were leaving so if you see the guy and the pin, then he is your man!

Christmas with new friends, great night!

The group of people in this photo were truly amazing. Some knew each other prior to this night – but like Amy and I – we were meeting these people for the first or second time. Ava invited us into her place and we had Christmas diner with her and her family. Never have I had so much lobster…and the turkey was amazing.
People on Caulker were awesome….we me met so many locals and expats alike who welcomed us everywhere we went. The general mood of the island was certainly holiday feel and it was nice to see everyone get into the Christmas spirit. What a great time…the rum and cokes or rum and juice were flowing faster than water. Food was great and company even better.

• Pros:only two cars on the whole island, the sand streets, all the rastas, great seletion of restaurants, the bakery, the local are awesome, small enough island to get around easy enough, barrier reef but a mile away, belikin beer!
• Cons:obviously there really is no beach, can be expensive (pick your spots), its hard to leave.
• In a nutshell:"welcome to paradise" and "respect mon", two phrases recited constantly by the rastas.